WWE SmackDown Grades: The Queen Returns With Flare

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3. Jeff Hardy Segment

One of the most unexpected turns of events as of late in the WWE has been the development between Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton.  This issue got started at Extreme Rules when Orton returned and Hardy lost the United States Championship to Shinsuke Nakamura after a low blow before the match began.

The Viper turned his attention towards The Charismatic Enigma at Extreme Rules and followed it up with a vicious attack of Hardy on the following episode of SmackDown.  Orton turned his back on the fans and has targeted Hardy from the start, but Hardy wasn’t taking it lying down last night when he went out to the ring to call out The Viper.

Hardy called out Orton and when he came out, Nakamura made his presence felt by jumping Hardy from behind.  And just when he was lining Hardy up for a kinshasa, Orton got in the way and stood face to face with The King Of Strong Style.  But just when it looked like Orton and Nakamura were going to square off, Orton told him to go ahead and hit Hardy with the kinshasa, which he did.

However, The Viper wasn’t finished with Hardy and he attacked him on the outside in a sadistic way much like he did a couple weeks ago.  This version of Orton really goes back to the Orton of old where he’s calculated, sadistic, and cold.  As far as this segment goes, it was tremendous with Orton’s character shining as a great heel and the dynamic with Nakamura is something to remember as well.

Hardy had intentions of squaring off with The Apex Predator last night, but thanks to The King Of Strong Style and the newfound sadistic ways of Orton, that never panned out.

Final Grade: A